Houston Police Officer Killed Because Of Uniform: County Sheriff

AFRICANGLOBE – The killing of a U.S. police officer on Friday in a Houston suburb was unprovoked, a county sheriff said, saying the victim was a target because of his uniform.

“It appears to be clearly unprovoked,” said Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman on Saturday, speaking of Friday’s shooting of Darren Goforth at a gas station.

Sheriff’s deputies on Saturday arrested Shannon Miles, 30, who will be charged with capital murder for the shooting, which Hickman said was allegedly captured on surveillance video.

Goforth, a 10-year veteran, was gassing up his patrol car when the gunman approached from behind, shot him in the back and shot him again as he lay on the ground, officials said.

Hickman linked the shooting to anti-police rhetoric following protests against the murders of unarmed Black men at the hands of white officers. Goforth was white, the alleged suspect is Black.

He said the department assumed Goforth was a target because he wore a uniform, and bluntly addressed protests against police violence and mass incarceration of Blacks.

“We’ve heard Black lives matter; all lives matter. Well cops’ lives matter too,” Hickman said. “At any point where the rhetoric ramps up to the point where calculated cold-blooded assassination of police officers happen(s), this rhetoric has gotten out of control,” said Hickman.

We are an organisation of people dedicated to the propagation and the dissemination of news and information relating to, and of importance to African Peoples worldwide. Our main objective is to provide an online portal where people of African decent; African heritage and friends of Africa can liaise and exchange knowledge and information.